Our smallest dwarf puffer (Beaker) doesn't appear to be doing too well. He is nearly always on the bottom, hardly moves, and nearly always hides in the back of the tank. Earlier today he was sitting on the bottom of the tank and was almost entirely brown - you almost couldn't see the spots because he was almost as dark as his spots!
I've also noticed he seems very thin. I'm not sure I can explain this exactly, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't show up in a picture... His front back to the back of the gills is fairly good sized. It looks like he might have been a fairly large fish as far as DP's go. Then his body suddenly drops off to about half the size instead of tapering off like the rest of the puffers I have.
So... does this sound like internal parasites? I have a 2.5 gallon tank I was going to use for snails. Should I put him in there with a filter, heater, food and meds or what?
-Kenny
sick dwarf puffer - internal parasites?
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
-
Feathers&Fins
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 5:42 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Pufferless since Nova passed; had 2 red T.miuris, 4 T.biocellatus for many years.
- Location (country): KY (USA)
- Location: (US) Kentucky
Could you provide a little more information to help determine the correct diagnosis/treatment?
•Can you post a picture of Beaker?
•How long have you had Beaker?
•When was the aquarium set up and how was it cycled?
•Have there been any changes made in the tank recently?
•What are the numerical readings of the PH, Ammonia, NitrIte, & NitrAtes?
•How often and what do you feed?
•How often do you do water changes and clean the gravel?
Please post the requested info and a moderator/member will be able to more accurately help you.
•Can you post a picture of Beaker?
•How long have you had Beaker?
•When was the aquarium set up and how was it cycled?
•Have there been any changes made in the tank recently?
•What are the numerical readings of the PH, Ammonia, NitrIte, & NitrAtes?
•How often and what do you feed?
•How often do you do water changes and clean the gravel?
Please post the requested info and a moderator/member will be able to more accurately help you.
Beaker
I'm going to a wedding soon, and don't have time for the pics. Also, I haven't picked up a water testing kit yet, so I have no clue about the water parameters, but I can't answer the rest of the questions.
•How long have you had Beaker?
A little over a week.
•When was the aquarium set up and how was it cycled?
Almost a month ago. I cycled with Bio-spira. That was a couple weeks before I purchased Beaker.
•Have there been any changes made in the tank recently?
Only a 50% water change and getting an airstone in one of the aquarium ornaments.
•How often and what do you feed?
I do daily feedings of frozen bloodworms when I get home from work, and I've been doing nearly weekly feedings of those pesky little aquarium snails. I also had 6 ghost shrimp in the tank last week, and my wife has fed them the frozen brine shrimp a time or two.
•How often do you do water changes and clean the gravel?
I vacuum the gravel when I do water changes. I was a bad procrastinator and didn't do the first water change until 2 - 3 weeks after I got the tank set up.
-Kenny
•How long have you had Beaker?
A little over a week.
•When was the aquarium set up and how was it cycled?
Almost a month ago. I cycled with Bio-spira. That was a couple weeks before I purchased Beaker.
•Have there been any changes made in the tank recently?
Only a 50% water change and getting an airstone in one of the aquarium ornaments.
•How often and what do you feed?
I do daily feedings of frozen bloodworms when I get home from work, and I've been doing nearly weekly feedings of those pesky little aquarium snails. I also had 6 ghost shrimp in the tank last week, and my wife has fed them the frozen brine shrimp a time or two.
•How often do you do water changes and clean the gravel?
I vacuum the gravel when I do water changes. I was a bad procrastinator and didn't do the first water change until 2 - 3 weeks after I got the tank set up.
-Kenny
pictures
I had a couple minutes to try to snap some photos of Beaker. These little guys are hard to get a good picture of! The other 5 move fast, and Beaker sees the camera coming and he hides. I did get three all right pictures. I'm just going to link to them instead of posting huge pics here.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/ ... eaker1.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/ ... eaker2.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/ ... eaker3.jpg
-Kenny
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/ ... eaker1.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/ ... eaker2.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/ ... eaker3.jpg
-Kenny
Beaker died
Last night, Beaker looked like he was really not feeling good. He was sitting on top of the fake plant and hyperventilating or something. The worst - I'm using the snail tank as the hospital/quarantine tank and he was not at all interested in the snails! Bad news for a puffer. So this morning, he was just sitting totally motionless. I never put any meds in the hospital tank since I didn't know what was wrong with Beaker. Down to five totally healthy puffers now.
-Kenny
-Kenny
-
Feathers&Fins
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 5:42 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Pufferless since Nova passed; had 2 red T.miuris, 4 T.biocellatus for many years.
- Location (country): KY (USA)
- Location: (US) Kentucky
Internal parasites is a very common problem with DPs, and one personally, I have not been able to fix or cure. I have tried numerous meds, and none have gotten rid of the buggers, if the DPs even bother to eat it. Other people have had better luck than I, but for now, all new DPs get quarantined for a month to two months.
The rare and elusive SteelGeek has been known to cause great damage to his environs...
Can a DP get IPs pretty much out of the blue? Where do they come from?
I had two together for almost a year. The male suddenly got emaciated, but the female still looks fine. Both are active and eat well, but the male thins out shortly after a feeding.
I feed them bloodworms daily or every other day, plus the odd snail that ends up in the tank. The tank is cycled with nitrates under 20 ppm (usually under 10 ppm), and weekly water changes usually run between 40-50%. These guys were in a tank rack, and the bioload has been reduced significantly recently; I sold a lot of my fish, so lots of the tanks are empty.
(Sorry to hijack the thread...)
I had two together for almost a year. The male suddenly got emaciated, but the female still looks fine. Both are active and eat well, but the male thins out shortly after a feeding.
I feed them bloodworms daily or every other day, plus the odd snail that ends up in the tank. The tank is cycled with nitrates under 20 ppm (usually under 10 ppm), and weekly water changes usually run between 40-50%. These guys were in a tank rack, and the bioload has been reduced significantly recently; I sold a lot of my fish, so lots of the tanks are empty.
(Sorry to hijack the thread...)
-
Feathers&Fins
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 5:42 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Pufferless since Nova passed; had 2 red T.miuris, 4 T.biocellatus for many years.
- Location (country): KY (USA)
- Location: (US) Kentucky
water test kits
I haven't managed to get a water test kit. Mostly I have no idea where to start. What do I need to get to test a freshwater tank and any recommendations on what brand to get?
-Kenny
-Kenny
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
You can buy a Master Test Kit at http://www.bigalsonline.com. If you haven't quarantined the snails, the IPs could have come from them. Or you could have other issues...
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
Feathers&Fins
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 5:42 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Pufferless since Nova passed; had 2 red T.miuris, 4 T.biocellatus for many years.
- Location (country): KY (USA)
- Location: (US) Kentucky
Many of us use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and/or Tetra. I don't think the brand name is as important as the type of test. Do not use dip strips. They are inaccurate. Use kits with liquid, powder, or tablet regents. The main tests are for PH, Ammonia, NitrIte, and NitrAte. Carbonate Hardness and General Hardness are also good to have around.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
It is not uncommon for a fish to have had IPs at time of purchase, only to finally subcumb to them after 6 months or so.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
I just lost all of my dwarf puffers except for one after a month long quarantine failed to show internal parasites, and several months later they all got infected (infested?)
The one I didnt lose was an extremely (over 1") large male.
I tried prazipro, Gelteks Ultra Cure PX, and even a panacur worm medicine that our vet prescribed for when one of our dogs had worms. All were applied to bloodworms and fed to the puffers over the course of about 2 months. There were numerous water changes and other things I did too.
I can't honestly say what it was that did it, or if the male will still make it. He -seems- to be putting weight back on though.
Oddly none of the other algae or clean up crews were affected at all.
The one I didnt lose was an extremely (over 1") large male.
I tried prazipro, Gelteks Ultra Cure PX, and even a panacur worm medicine that our vet prescribed for when one of our dogs had worms. All were applied to bloodworms and fed to the puffers over the course of about 2 months. There were numerous water changes and other things I did too.
I can't honestly say what it was that did it, or if the male will still make it. He -seems- to be putting weight back on though.
Oddly none of the other algae or clean up crews were affected at all.
The rare and elusive SteelGeek has been known to cause great damage to his environs...